Superman Might Be Just A Tiny Bit Racist

At least the version of Superman in this comedy short from Gasm Media, who needs to work on his victim identification skills.

Sure people don't generally get mugged outside of business parks with other people just meters away, but aside from that this is the sort of scene that plays out every day in the streets of our cities. The mugging, I mean. Not the whole Superman part.

Full disclosure, the bald guy with the beard is my pal Chef Lu Bu from being Chef Lu Bu fame, and I am pretty sure Superman was at my wife's birthday party a couple of years back. Or the guy playing Superman. It was an Irish Pub, it's a bit hazy.

Comments

It's a pretty obvious commentary on the difference in treatment of different races by police - where a black man walking though a white neighbourhood might be stopped for suspicion of being a criminal, where a white man moving through a black neigbourhood might be offered a lift to somewhere "safer" (and similar incidents). Basically, police do not treat people of different racial backgrounds in the same fashion.

It would be nice to add "in America" but it's more or less universal, with various differences in the preferred racial mix; in Australia, Australian Aboriginals and those of middle eastern appearance tend to get the short end of the stick.

You may remember the abortive operation in Melbourne last year where the Australian Border Force was going to be checking passports.

It probably happens more often to those of colour than WASPs; there was a case in Sydney around a decade ago when an Aboriginal was shot at his own front door when upon answering he was thought to take an action interpreted as aggressive by the police officer (as part of a drug raid - which found nothing). You only have to take a look at the figures for Aboriginals arrested, convicted and in detention compared to those of the general population to see that it's not an even playing field.

I make no claims to not being racist at all but I do try very hard not to let it colour my thinking. For example, around half the population seems to think that the treatment of (mostly) perfectly legal immigrants in the PNG/Nauru/Christmas Island detention camps is somehow justified by saving lives "on the water" when it seems to me to be perfectly obvious that these are two separate things.

(Ignoring the separate but valid issue that the current regime is ludicrously expensive.)

I'm quite certain that 99% of police are entirely honest and attempt to be impartial. I'm just as certain that they don't always succeed. The general population likely follows a similar proportion - but that 1% poisons the barrel.

I suspect that we're not nearly as bad, generally speaking, as parts of the US. I can't help but wonder how much of that is due to the relative size of the white majority.

I also suspect that Australians in general (not excepting myself from this) are more racist than they themselves recognise, although most people do try not to let it affect their actions.

There's also the problem that the people critiquing him, standing around are all white? I dunno if they bothered noticing it while making it. But... maybe having a black cast member beyond the guy would've helped the video? As it stands... it feels... like it grossly misses the point and comes across as really half arsed, almost condescending?

Triple AAA games nailing the brief. Indie games surprising people out of nowhere, and expansions and patches that completely turn a game around. It's been a good year for games - now it's time for you to vote for your favourite.